GM Crossovers Miss Out On Top Rating In Stricter IIHS Side Crash Test: Video
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Small GM crossovers missed out on the best possible safety rating in a recent side crash test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The IIHS has introduced a new, tougher side-impact crash test procedure that it says will help address higher-speed side crashes that “continue to cause fatalities.” This revised test includes a heavier 4,180 pound barrier to mimic the weight of a modern-day mid-size crossover. The heavier barrier also travels at a speed of 37 mph compared to the previous test speed of 31 mph. The IIHS says these changes result in a crash that generates 82 percent more energy.
Only one vehicle, the 2021-2022 Mazda CX-5, received the best-possible rating of ‘Good’ in this newly introduced side crash test. That means all small GM crossovers that were evaluated missed out on this rating. This included the Buick Encore and Chevy Trax, both of which had an ‘Acceptable’ rating, along with the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain, which had a ‘Marginal’ rating.
While GM crossovers showed room for improvement in this evaluation, it’s not all bad news for the American automaker. The IIHS said “vehicles that earned marginal or poor overall ratings in the new test generally struggled with both structural issues and high chest and pelvis injury measurements from both dummies,” but this wasn’t the case with the Equinox or the Terrain, both of which “demonstrated a strong structure, but only managed a marginal rating overall due to inadequate head protection and elevated head injury risk for the rear passenger and elevated chest injury measures for the driver,” the safety watchdog said. The Encore also had strong integrity but was docked after the dummy suffered a marginal driver chest injury.
Two vehicles, the 2021 Honda HR-V and 2021 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, essentially failed this test with ‘Poor’ overall ratings. The HR-V’s B-pillar tore away from the frame in the test, which allowed the “side of the vehicle to crush inward almost to the center of the driver seat.” The Eclipse Cross also demonstrated “structural weakness and inadequate seat-mounted torso-protecting airbags,” the IIHS said.
The IIHS provides a more in-depth review of its findings from this new crash test in the video embedded below.
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It looks like gm needs to step it up a bit.
GM is at the back of the pack in everything.
Honda and Mitsubushi did much worse. Helps if you read the article.
They are going to have to change these up in more with Electric vehicles. Many are going to weigh more that fullsize trucks and suv’s
Not everything, Akear. At $40.3 million, gm leads the pack in CEO compensation.
Well Motor Trend just ranked Mary 19TH. On the list of most influential Executive in the automotive industry at $40.3 million she is well paid ?
Barra is the highest paid automotive CEO and the second highest paid CEO of all American companies, behind only her counterpart at Nvidia. Thus, while gm lags behind in safety again and pretty much every other metric, and their products are constantly compromised to save money, they sure do pay their CEO well.
Just once could gm be first to highest rating? I assume they know the tests are coming.
I’m sure if they re tested that Mazda, it would fail. It’s like a Covid test, sometimes you get a false reading, and in the case of the Mazda, I doubt it could replicate a “Good” rating again.
Walt W,
Why in the world would you think that? Mazda doesn’t have a big lineup but they’ve still got about 7-8 products that earn the Top Safety Pick from IIHS. This latest result is not an anomaly.